Matt Reed Q&A: Infantini questions incentives

Commissioner likes Cocoa Expo project, not Titusville mall

Infantini

Brevard County Commissioner Trudie Infantini brings a different perspective to the board.

Ask Infantini what she's doing for District 3 - which includes Melbourne Beach and parts of Melbourne and Palm Bay - and she'll tell you she's focused instead on watchdogging the whole county. A college accounting teacher, she has questioned breaks for companies seeking to move to the Space Coast and argued against subsidies for a mall redevelopment project in Titusville.

Question: Which issue in Brevard have you been following lately?

Infantini: Cocoa Expo is one of the big ones we've been researching and, actually, getting to tour the facility. It's going to have a number of fields for young people to play baseball on. They've got pitching stations, videos - it's an enormous complex.

A gentleman, Jeff Unnerstall, came in and has put so much time and effort into that project. It was done without any county money or tax abatements or incentives.

Q: The expo hit snags regarding parking and water issues. Then, those dropped from the news. What happened?

Infantini: He worked through them. I tried to encourage the county to be more business-friendly. Instead of saying, "What can we do to slow down your process?" we should ask, "What can we do to facilitate your progress?"

We called his project an all-new project, so he had to give us an all-new site plan, even though he was renovating ball fields. He did change the layout and configuration of some things. But for the most part, it's what we had there before.

Second to the port, I think that's going to be the biggest thing we have to offer, besides the water.

Q: You have questioned economic incentives for businesses and job growth more than other commissioners. Explain.

Infantini: If we're going to do incentives, I would prefer to do tax abatements, where we allow you to pay us less property taxes than we would otherwise collect. One thing I'm completely opposed to is giving cash up front. There's a certain disincentive when you get cash up front.

Q: Secrecy surrounds most incentive offers. The Embraer jet plant was once "Project Jaguar," and earlier this year, you voted against something called "Project Circle." How can commissioners vote on proposals from the Economic Development Commission if they don't know who's getting the money?

Infantini: If I don't know about the company, I'm going to vote against it, and I've explained that to the EDC.

When Bass Pro Shop came in (to Palm Bay), I had asked for the name of the company, and they wouldn't divulge it. I was able to confirm who the company was through our own research. It would be an excellent addition, and I ultimately voted for it.

Q: Why offer incentives to start-ups? Entrepreneurs don't earn anything unless the company succeeds ... isn't that incentive enough? By contrast, an established company like Northrop Grumman could have moved its engineering center anywhere besides Melbourne.

Infantini: With Northrop Grumman, from my understanding, they were already going to move here.

Look at what we have to offer. We have the weather, we have the beaches, we have the brainpower. I don't even think we need to offer tax abatements. However, in the interest of teamwork and trying to bring jobs here, I do vote for them.

Q: What do you make of subsidies for redeveloping the Miracle City Mall in Titusville?

Infantini: Why in the world would government put in a mall? If the location is good, private business would do it.

Q: Well, some properties would be attractive to private developers if not for impairments like underground tanks or huge vacant buildings. Why not jump-start growth by spending some tax dollars to remove barriers?

Infantini: There may be times, but why did we have to create a special board in North Brevard to oversee anywhere from $90 million to $150 million over the next 30 years?

Why wouldn't you spread that throughout the whole county? Is it because of unemployment?

Q: Yeah. The economic zone was a response to the space shuttle layoffs.

Infantini: Well, why wasn't (the area) successful so far? It's the leadership in that area. They have overregulated Titusville and parts north. They've got to loosen up, or they're going to continue chasing out businesses.

They should have been so successful with all the money that poured into that area for the past 30 years, ever since we started the space program.